A few days ago, RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer dismissed the abysmal fundraising figures for Donald Trump’s campaign, declaring that said could write a check to his own campaign for $100 million.
Earlier this week, Trump said, “If need be, there could be unlimited ‘cash on hand’ as I would put up my own money, as I have already done through the primaries, spending over $50 million,”
Imagine if tomorrow, Trump forgave the $45.7 million worth of personal loans to his own campaign, and wrote a check to his campaign for $100 million. His campaign would instantly have double the amount of cash on hand that Hillary Clinton’s does.
Trump could then easily say, “I’ve got skin in the game. Now I need all Republicans to kick in, too, so we can beat that corrupt Clinton cash machine. We’re all in this together.” He could start mentioning that Bernie Sanders raised more than $200 million through small donations, and “I’ll bet we can beat that at donaldjtrump.com,” and so on.
But Trump hasn’t written that check. The simplest explanation is that he can’t write that check. (If he can, what is he waiting for?) A Reuters study of the information in Trump’s financial disclosures indicates his personal liquid cash amounts to about one percent of the $10 billion figure he offered when discussing his net worth.
Trump had cash and other liquid investments – money in funds, equities and cash – worth $60 million to $180 million in May, according to his filings with the Office of Government Ethics. The form does not require candidates to give precise values for their assets, only ranges.
Trump’s liquid assets stood at $80 million to $230 million in July last year, according to an earlier electoral filing. Using the midpoint of the ranges, Trump’s liquid assets have fallen $35 million in the past year.
The drop shows his campaign spending so far has already been funded in part by dipping into savings, rather than solely from his income.
Trump’s $10 billion boast was a key part of his public image, his status in the eyes of his fans, and his self-image. It probably reassured Republican officials that whatever other flaws he had as a candidate, he would have the advantage of self-funding. That assurance now appears to be illusory.
When questions about Trump’s wealth were raised in February, his fans scoffed. Now… here we are.